A blog dealing with either the joy of cinema or the agony of cinema--nothing in between.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Election

Mr. McAllister is a dedicated history teacher at George Washington Carver High School, with a loving wife at home and friends he enjoys. All of this is disrupted when Tracy Flick, an ultra-perky dynamo, decides to run unopposed for class president, and Mr. M decides to meddle (as Tracey would put it). "Election" is the super sly film that put Alexander Payne, along with cowriter Jim Taylor, on the map as an auteur of quirky and deeply affecting human comedies. Working from Tom Perotta novel, "Election" is a wonderfully observant and insightful, characteristics that have been true of all of Payne's work since. The movie also represents the breakout performance Reese Witherspoon who manages to fashion a character so contemptible, and then manages to draw sympathy for her in the film's denouement. Matthew Broderick delivers one of his best performances as a teacher who at first is trying to put on his best face, and soon is trying to keep everything together. Chris Klein is excellent as well playing a good natured jock whom Broderick's character has plans for. "Election" is a film about High School, geared towards adults that is wickedly cynical, warm, and perceptive.